Wednesday, August 29, 2007

So I've officially completed the first week of my last semester at school. I've scheduled my comprehensive exams for the second week in November, with my oral defense sometime the following week. I tried to get it for the first week of October so that I could relax when I went to Boston in mid-October, but my committee chair said that wasn't enough time to adquately prepare.

This semester is going to be tough! My course work load is going to be heavy, with at least 2 case studies in each class and 2 presentations. Not to mention that we have weekly quizzes in each class! Oy vey! How nuts is that?!

On the plus side, my classmates are awesome, my teams are picked, and I'm ready to go. I can't tell you how good it feels to know that in less than 4 months I'll have a Master's degree! In reality, it seems like just yesterday I was starting grad school. I can't believe it's already drawing to a close.

Oh, and for those of you who have been asking about how grad school works for me, here's a little detail. In my college (Communications) you can either do thesis or non-thesis. For the students who choose non-thesis (like myself) you must complete 36 hours of coursework and then take a comprehensive exam covering all your coursework. In your 24th hour of coursework you select a 3-man committee who will prepare you for comps. Your committe chair will petition each of your professors for a question, and then you must prepare for each of the questions you are given. The written exam consists of 3-4 questions selected by your committee that you answer over 2 days (you are given 2 hours to answer each question.) A week after your written exams you go before your committee for an oral defense of your written exams. In your defense you justify why you used a certain theory or did not choose to use a theory, etc. I've heard that your defense can take a couple of hours - YIKES! If you pass, then you graduate; if you don't pass, then you're in trouble.

With all that being said, I am confident that my committee will prepare me to master my exam, and all I have to do is study my keister off for the next 3 months in preparation for the exam. :)

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

This is my first attempt at blogging, and as such, is my first blog (WOO HOO!) I've been meaning to blog for sometime, especially because I'm in the communications industry and have been hearing about "the influencers" for years, yet I never felt that I had anything relevant to say. I'm just a simple girl trying to get by in this crazy new Web 2.0 world. So what's changed?

I decided to finally join the network of people who, as WOMMA founder and serial blogger Andy Sernovitz says, are crying for help! I'm not going to pretend that I'm doing this to become a "famous" blogger or to become an expert in Web 2.0. I've been interested in reading people's blogs (call it nosy or gossippy or curious) for some time, and I felt like I was entering probably the craziest time in my life, and wanted to document it. I'm not expecting anyone to read this -not even my parents! - but I did want something that I can one day look back on. So with that, I begin my post. If anyone does decide to read this, here's some information about me, and why I think my life is about to get crazy:

I am in the PR industry, working at an advertising agency in Dallas. I've been with my current agency for over 18 months now, and I LOVE my job. I don't mind the long work days and the low pay (although it makes me cry when I break down my salary-to-per-hour ratio) because I feel that my piece of mind is worth more than the money I don't have. I have a second job, and that is graduate student at UT Arlington. I'm in my final semester of grad school, and stuff is about to get crazy! I'm taking a business management class and a business marketing class, AND preparing for my comprehensive exams. All this is in addition to my job, and balancing my social life and finding time to visit my Boston boyfriend. Whew! So you can see that I have a lot. That's why I wanted to document this time in my life. The time between now and mid-December is going to be nuts, and it will probably help everyone who won't see me from now until then to know what is going on in my life.

I hope you enjoy this, and I'll try to update it as much as possible. I'll include things that are going on in my life, and try to balance it out with some interesting industry happenings that I come across. Feel free to give any comments or criticisms, or tell me when you can tell that I'm starting to lose my sanity. It's going to be a great ride! :)

What You Need to Know

A Texan living life on the East Coast. I work in public relations to pay the bills. When I'm not working, I'm usually working out - I'm a sometimes half-marathoner and a full-time bar method enthusiast. Oh, and did I mention I'm planning a wedding halfway across the world?